How do we manage our ideation process?

Step 1 – Get your own self together

Assessment and Objectives

With our innovation benchmarking tool we first asses the organisation as a whole. We then focus on a specific innovation tactic. Those are small, clear integrated programs or events. In other words we break down big ideas into little steps.

Action 1: we lay the foundation. Our idea management process pays attention to the source of ideas, their scope, the number of stages an idea will go through, the back end technology to be used, the idea selection process and how ideas will be supported and sponsored. Building breakthrough innovation needs clear and organized processes.

Action 2: we create an innovation manuscript where the organization identifies the objectives, the criteria for success, a vision, a plan and lists problems, desires and needs. We count on collective wisdom to address them.

Step 2 – Invite wise people with influence

Organisation and Resources

After setting the assessment and the objectives we need to find the people and motivate them to create the right ideation climate. We need everyone to speak with honesty and without fear. We regroup multidisciplinary people with a variety of expertise, competencies and skills. We ensure that these people represent different and interests in your organisation ecosystem.

Action 3: we invite people and build involvement. Motivating individuals to participate in an innovation program is an important challenge.

Step 3 – Make it fun and give people toys to play with.

Observation and Experimentation

Together we immerse ourselves into your theme ecosystem and observe it carefully. We see the world as you’ve never seen it before and observe without judging. Then we experiment to identify opportunities, to develop insights and turn those insights into concepts. We make, build and test models. Your people are encouraged to come up with new ways to solve old problems, looking to see what works and what doesn’t. Together we learn from the failures and start all over again, trying to find the right solution.

Action 4: we experiment at high speed. Experimentation is a planned activity to validate one or more assumptions of an idea. The outcome of experiment is learning.

Action 5: we go fast from prototyping to incubation. We help ideas foster faster by holding effective innovation reviews and by supporting the incubation of new ideas.

Action 6: we iterate on your business model. We use different scenarios to identify the boundaries and constraints within which the experimentation takes place. We create a margin of safety so that failures do not cripple permanently.